Can you feel it? The sun is slowly climbing higher in the sky and the days are getting longer. As of yesterday, winter is half over. The season is quickly losing its charm.

Spring is almost here. You don't believe me, just ask a resident on top of the world.

On January 22, 2017, in Barrow , Alaska, the nation's most northernmost town, the sun finally rose after having been below the horizon since mid-November, plunging people in near total darkness. This arctic sunrise is the beginning of a slow and steady process that has been going on for countless years. Planet Earth's northern hemisphere is starting to gradually tilt towards the sun to slowly provide light after months of relentless darkness around the arctic circle and to modify a bitter Siberian air mass.

Although snow, sleet and cold will still strive to dominate the landscape around New York Harbor for several more weeks, the brightening of Barrow, Alaska's skies are the first sign of spring in the northern hemisphere.